MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head football coach Bill Snyder announced Saturday that Tom Hayes, a 29-year coaching veteran with experience at both the collegiate and professional levels, has joined the Wildcat coaching staff as the defensive secondary/safeties coach.

Hayes, a University of Iowa graduate who also has extensive Big 8 and Big 12 coaching ties, has 22 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level, seven seasons in the NFL ranks and has been a part of 13 bowl games, including eight at UCLA, two at Texas A&M and three at Oklahoma.

“I have known Tom for a long time and admired him not only as a highly competent and successful football coach but also as a quality person who genuinely cares about young people,” said Snyder. “Tom’s ability to teach is made evident by the fact that 26 of his collegiate players moved on to the NFL, four of which were Pro Bowl selections, and he has been involved in 13 total bowl games, winning 10 of them. I am confident that he and his wife will fit in quite well in Manhattan.”

Most recently, Hayes spent the 2010 season on Bob Toledo’s staff at Tulane where he coached the defensive secondary and tutored First Team All-Conference USA cornerback Phillip Davis. Davis, who became Tulane’s first all-conference first team selection on defense since 2005, ranked eighth nationally in 2010 and tops in Conference USA with 15 passes defended.

Hayes also served on the New Orleans Saints staff as a defensive backs coach for two seasons in 2006 and 2007. Hayes molded a group of young players and veterans into key contributors in New Orleans as the Saints possessed the NFC's top-ranked pass defense in 2006.

In New Orleans, the Saints gave up just 178.4 passing yards per game in 2006, leading the conference and ranking third in the NFL. The Saints held eight different offenses to under 160 yards passing that season - including two under 100 yards.

During his career, Hayes has served as defensive coordinator at BCS institutions Stanford, UCLA, Oklahoma and Kansas and also coached the defensive backs for the Washington Redskins for five years.

Hayes has been a part of teams that have compiled a 10-3 record in bowl games throughout his career – including three Rose Bowl victories – and has coached 26 defensive backs who moved on to NFL rosters, including five first-round draft picks.

Prior to arriving at Stanford in 2005, Hayes spent the 2001 season at Kansas. He was the Jayhawks' defensive coordinator and secondary coach and was interim head coach for the final three games of the season.

Hayes spent the 1995-1999 seasons coaching the secondary for the Redskins under Norv Turner. A list of the NFL standouts Hayes has worked with includes CBs Darrell Green, Cris Dishman and Champ Bailey while with the Redskins. At UCLA, Hayes was a key part of establishing the school's history of NFL-bound safeties by tutoring Kenny Easley, Don Rogers, James Washington, Eric Turner and Carnell Lake. In his stint at Texas A&M, Hayes coached CB Kevin Smith.

Hayes coached under Gary Gibbs at Oklahoma for four years (1991-94), under R.C. Slocum at Texas A&M for two years (1989-90) and under Terry Donahue at UCLA for nine seasons (1980-88).

At Oklahoma, Hayes was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach. He helped the Sooners to a pair of nine-win seasons and three bowl games, including a win over Virginia in the 1991 Gator Bowl and a victory over Texas Tech in the '93 Hancock Bowl.

He was the Assistant Head Coach and secondary coach for two seasons at Texas A&M. He helped direct the Aggies to a combined 17-7-1 record and trips to the Hancock Bowl in '89 (lost to Pittsburgh) and the Holiday Bowl in 1990 (victory over BYU).

Hayes worked for nine years as an assistant coach under Donahue at UCLA (1980-88). He was the secondary coach in 1980-81, then was promoted to co-defensive coordinator/secondary coach from '82-88. In nine seasons in Westwood, Hayes was part of a Bruin program that won four Pac-10 Championships, played in three Rose Bowls and eight bowl games overall, went 7-1 in bowl competition and finished among the top-5 nationally five times and among the top-20 eight times. The Bruins never won less than seven games during Hayes' nine-year tenure.

The Bruins went 10-1-1 in 1982 and finished ranked fifth in the nation after beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl. In 1983, UCLA again won the Pac-10 title and beat Illinois in the Rose Bowl. A few years later, in 1985, UCLA went 9-2-1, beat Iowa in the Rose Bowl and finished as the nation's No. 7 ranked team.

Hayes was the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Cal State Fullerton in 1979 and was the secondary coach at his alma mater, Iowa, in 1977-78. He coached for five years on the high school level and one year at Coe College in Iowa before getting his first collegiate job at Iowa in 1977.

Hayes was a three-year letter-winner as a defensive back for the Hawkeyes from 1967-71. He earned a degree in Finance/Insurance in 1971. Born in Keokuk, Iowa, he and his wife Cindy have three children: Andy, Lindsay, and Sarah.